Professor at UT

Earnest F. Gloyna Regents Chair in Engineering

Research Areas

Advanced Design and Manufacturing

Dr. Joseph J. Beaman joined The University of Texas at Austin faculty in 1979 after receiving his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the area of nonlinear control in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering. He holds the Earnest F. Gloyna Regents Chair in Engineering, and served as Department Chair for Mechanical Engineering between the years of 2000 and 2011. His career work has been in both manufacturing and control, and he is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. His specific manufacturing research interest is in Solid Freeform Fabrication, a manufacturing technology that produces freeform solid objects directly from a computer model of the object without part-specific tooling or knowledge. Professor Beaman coined this term in 1987. Professor Beaman initiated research in the area in 1985 and was the first academic researcher in the field. One of the most successful Solid Freeform Fabrication approaches, Selective Laser Sintering, was a process that was developed in his laboratory.

Professor Beaman has been both an inventor and a mentor to inventors during the development of this technology. In particular, he has worked with graduate students, faculty, and industrial concerns on the fundamental technology that span materials, laser scanning techniques, thermal control, mold making techniques, direct metal fabrication, and biomedical applications. He was one of the founders of DTM Corporation (now merged with 3D Systems), which markets Selective Laser Sintering. During the period 1990-1992, Professor Beaman was in charge of Advanced Development for DTM. During his tenure at DTM, the company developed and marketed its first commercial systems.

Professor Beaman is an academic whose technical work has had a significant and growing impact on society. His work has played an important role in engendering a whole new industry in the US and abroad. Solid Freeform Fabrication and Selective Laser Sintering equipment is now widespread. Rapid prototyping with this equipment is commonplace, and represents a significant shortening of the design cycle. Rapid manufacturing is now emerging and offers the potential to radically compress the manufacturing cycle for complex parts. Benefits are greatly reduced cost, time, and the capability to achieve, in one operation, shapes that would otherwise require multiple operations or shapes impossible to manufacture with standard techniques. Applications cross a broad spectrum from medical to automotive. He participated on the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center Panel study on Rapid Prototyping in Japan and Europe, a Workshop on Rapid Prototyping in Japan and Europe in March 1996, which was a worldwide assessment of the research area. He also was chair of the World Technology Evaluation Center panel in 2003 on Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing.

Professor Beaman received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1984, the inaugural year. In 2011, he was named Distinguished Mechanical Engineer by the Mechanical Engineering Distinguished Alumni organization at The University of Texas at Austin. Other awards include the Faculty Excellence Award at the University; the DuPont Young Faculty Award; two Engineering Foundation Awards (1984, 1988); the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control; Best Paper Award for the Journal of Rapid Prototyping (1996); and Best Paper Award for the 2001 Vacuum Metallurgy Conference. Dr. Beaman is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, Pi Tau Sigma, and the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He graduated with a B.S.M.E. with high honors from The University of Texas in 1972, and received a fellowship while attending MIT. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a member of the Dynamic Systems and Control Division. He was Technical Group Leader of the Systems and Design Technical Group 2008-2011, as well as currently Chair of the TCOB Committee on Technology Policy.